Yamaha

Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route with Motolara

Dual sport enthusiasts, Alberto Lara and Naomi Tweddle created this fantastic video of their recent trip on the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route on their Yamaha WR 250Rs. The couple has ridden with Giant Loop gear in destinations around North and South America, choosing the Great Basin Saddlebags to carry most of their gear. The Great Basin handily carries all one could need for multi-day journeys. You’ll also see the Giant Loop Fandango Tank Bag , Tillamook Dry bag and various other GL accessories used on this trip.

These two are exactly who we thought of when we started creating this gear. They live for the ride.

New Pronghorn Straps XL
Extra beefy 1-inch-wide Pronghorn Straps XL feature stamped aluminum fasteners and a strong connection created by tension that makes these color coded tan 22-inch and blue 32-inch long an essential part of every backcountry traveler’s kit. Pronghorn Straps have towed snow mobiles, splinted wounds, secured skis/snowboards and helped in countless other ways. Also available in ¾-inch-wide models in gray 15-, orange 20- and red 25-inch color coded lengths. USA MSRP $40 for pair of XL 32-inch; $38 for pair of XL 22”.

New 2-Gallon, 3-Gallon, 5-Gallon Gas Bag Fuel Safe Bladder
Giant Loop’s new 2-gallon, 3-gallon and 5-gallong Gas Bag™ Fuel Safe Bladders conveniently transport hydrocarbon fuel for power sports racing in a collapsible welded film and ballistic nylon reinforced container. Rolls up or packs flat when empty, the Gas Bags weigh a fraction of other fuel container. Also available in a 1-gallon version, Gas Bag Fuel Safe Bladders provide a lightweight, compact means of transporting gas for off-road racing on closed courses. Each Gas Bag Fuel Safe Bladder is individually pressure tested and made in USA by Fuel Safe, a leading racing fuel containment manufacturer based in Oregon. NOTE: Intended only for the temporary transport of liquid hydrocarbons for racing vehicles used in professional off road and closed course competition racing events. The Gas Bag Fuel Safe Bladder is not a portable or long-term fuel storage container as described by ASTM, EPA, ARB or other state or federal agencies. Available exclusively from Giant Loop consumer-direct. USA MSRP coming soon.

Giant Loop’s Snow line is available at the company’s GL Adventure Shop in Bend, Oregon, and online at www.giantloopsnow.com. Giant Loop’s adventure proof motorcycle, snowmobile, snow bike, ATV, UTV, SxS, 4×4 and outdoor packing and gear systems are available from select powersports dealers in the USA and Canada, and via Tucker Rocky Distributing in the USA, as well as from international distributors around the world. Giant Loop is a rider-owned company that designs and tests products in Bend, Oregon. For all the details, go to www.giantloopmoto.com/product-category/giant-loop-snow/ or www.giantloopsnow.com.

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Giant Loop® and the GL® logo are registered trademarks of Giant Loop LLC.

Product of the Week – The Great Basin Saddlebag

A trusted staple in the Giant Loop line up, the Great Basin Saddlebag is the largest in our “loop bag” collection.

We have outfitted an assortment of motorcycles with the Great Basin, and it’s currently on the backs of motorcycles around the globe. In the montage above you’ll find the Great Basin Saddlebag easily mounted on a the Honda CRF250L, Rally Raid CB500X, and Africa Twin, the KTM 1190 Adventure R, the Yamaha WR250, the KLR 650 retrofitted with a sidecar, the Suzuki tu250x, a Yamaha R6 and something random in Nepal….just to name a few.

This bag will carry all that you require for a serious expedition or comfortably carry your weekend provisions.

Great Basin Saddlebag Roll Top Orange

What we love most about the Great Basin Saddlebag is it’s verstility. This bag, rides rackless, behind the rider where the passenger would sit. The “legs” of the bag affix to the passenger foot pegs or other solid mounting point in the same area and anchors at the rear of the bike via three straps on on an existing rear rack or integrated mounting point. The is bag is 68L in capacity and is sold with three waterproof dry pods which organize gear within the bag plus make it easy to haul things to your camp spot without removing the whole loop bag. A Hot Springs Heat Shield is also included with every bag to keep the Great Basin off the pipe.

The outer material is constructed of tough 22 oz. vinyl coated polyester reinforced with ballistic nylon and, like many of our bags the Great Basin has loops added to the sides of the bag that make it easy to add Possibles Pouches or just affix items with Pronghorn Straps. The “beavertail” cinch straps can be extend to allow for a Tillamook or Rogue Dry Bag if extra capacity is required.

Great video overview of the Diablo Pro Tank Bag on a Yamaha WR250 by Florida Outdoor Adventures!

Diablo Pro Tank Bag (4 liters) rider-friendly features are similar to its larger cousin, the Fandango Pro Tank Bag, while remaining true to its minimalist, slim, trim design. Even when standing on the footpegs and riding off-road and trails, this little devil never gets in the way!

“The best hard-core saddlebag and tank-bag solution we’ve found is from Giant Loop…. There are cheaper solutions to carrying stuff, but these American-made pieces have been over mountains and across deserts with no issues.” — Cycle World Magazine

An electronics pass-through enables on-bike charging and power inside the tank bag and/or the clear vinyl map pocket top.
Includes Giant Loop Tank Bag Harness (also available separately to quickly move Tank Bag from one motorcycle to another). Fuel fills are easily accessed by simply unzipping either side from the harness, and the concave front allows vent hoses to breathe.
Other key features: Full interior lining with hook-and-loop accepting fabric, movable divider with elastic tire pressure gauge holder, exterior mesh pocket and D-ring mounts for new optional Pannier Pockets (2 liters each side).
Two 2-liter Pannier Pockets also can be added to the Diablo Tank Bag’s harness and attach to tank, shrouds or engine guards.
Protect tank and plastics with Giant Loop Vinyl Protective Film.

Kiwis Keith and Bryan rode 13,000km, coast-to-coast on the Trans Canada Adventure Trail on Yamaha WR250s with Giant Loop’s Great Basin Saddlebags and Dry Bags. Here are some highlights from their adventure (captions by Keith)!
1. Caribou Creek Saskatchewan . Almost as far north as the TCAT gets. Great spot – cabins, gas, food, beer!
2. Chris Rieger and the Kiwis. We have Chris to thank for a world class effort in marking the TCAT in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Job very well done.
3. Day off at the Nipawin Exhibition. The wagon racing was breathtaking!
4. Bryan and deer – a certain attraction. Our altercations with them continue …
5. Mike on a slippery slope in Saskatchewan . Hard to see the true grade but 5 mm of damp makes the surface like soap.
6. Manitoba Lake – the Cree First Nation. A very warm welcome, Keith telling our story to locals.
7. Keith looking for the trail in long grass. Bloody great moose appeared! (not in pic)
8. Rains a’comin on the prairie.
9. Oops. Road closed.
10. Typical axle deep ‘damp patch’ we had to get through on the Saskatchewan prairie.

Alberto Lara and Naomi Tweddle (www.motolara.com) added another off-road adventure to their list of travels this past week: an 800-mile giant loop dual sport motorcycle ride through Oregon, beginning and ending at Giant Loop’s shop in Bend. You may have seen Alberto’s photos in our 2015 Adventure Proof Packing Systems catalog or on social media for Moto Lara

Email from UK adventure travel journalist Duncan McCallum about his May 2015 ride:

“The trip was a 3,000km mix of off-road and road trails, May 2015, in Provence, France, Corsica, Sardinia and the Italian Alps. Five out of the six bikes had GL products – mostly tank bags but Brian on the Yamaha XT660 also bought the Coyote Saddlebag and dumped his old system. They all saw my stuff from the last trip and went to Adventure Spec?[Giant Loop’s distributor in the United Kingdom]?to buy it.”

Here you can see how Jaume has removed the Klamth Tail Rack Pack’s hooks and threaded the Pronghorn Straps into the thumb-lock buckles to mount the Klamath Tail Rack Pack to the Siskiyou Panniers’ integrated D-ring attachments.

“A 250 is not everyone?s idea of an adventure bike, but the simplicity, lightness, and agility of a small bike will get you to more places with less work than any of the big guns. You must commit to the 60?65-mph cruise and ?lack? of luxury. What you get back is going places no GS dares to tread. The $6,690?Yamaha?WR250R is a great platform, with a capa?ble chassis and lots of snap from its revvy motor. But it needs mods for high-performance distance travel. Our goal was to build a bike that could, for example, be ridden from LA to Moab and then stripped and re-geared at a campsite for real enduro-style exploring. Total cost for all mods is high, but this is meant as a guide to show benefits of each change so readers can make their own decision on what?s important to them.”

“LUGGAGE The best hard-core saddlebag and tank bag solution we?ve found is from Giant Loop. Coyote 39-liter saddlebags (www.giantloopmoto.com, $360) attach securely without using heavy metal racks and come with a heat shield to protect from exhaust heat (we added a second). Capacity is huge and three waterproof liner bags are included. Diablo Pro tank bag adds 4 liters up front ($210) and has a clear map pocket with a power cord inlet for devices. Zippered base has a fuel-cap cutout, meaning the bag can flip out of the way for easy refueling.”

Giant Loop’s design director, Brian Frankle, recently joined up with a couple of local friends from Bend for an Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route adventure on his Suzuki DRZ400. Here are some of his pics and comments:

“Took a short 4 day trip on the moto on the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route. Rendezvoused with a few others on day 2 in Ukiah, Oregon. Other than great company, seeing a Bighorn Sheep along the South Fork of the John Day River was a highlight.”

As a long-distance runner and through-hiker (just finish 5th in Pine to Palm 100, he’s hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, etc.) Brian’s an ultralight packer. On this trip he’s living the life of luxury with the Great Basin Saddlebag and Pannier Pockets on his DRZ400.

Our friend and customer Patrick used the Coyote Saddlebag and Fandango Pro Tank Bag on his Honda CRF250L.

“PK at Olive Lake Umatilla National Forest. Olive Lake is a reservoir that provided water and turned the generators at Fremont Power House…which in turn, supplied power to the largest Dredge used for gold mining in North America which sits in Sumpter, Oregon.”

We were working away packing orders and doing office work, when there was a knock at the door. Solana, a college instructor and Xterra race winner enjoying her first enduro bike, had come by to get some fit questions answered.?She has planned a dual sport ?ride to Canada this summer and needed a packing system for her Yamaha XT250. She had found her used XT250 online, after much searching, and was happy to get a good deal on it. Believing that Giant Loop was the right answer to her packing system questions, she rolled over to visit yesterday.

“After a year on the road in South America, I still wasn’t happy with my panniers. ?I started with hard panniers then switched to conventional soft panniers, but neither worked for me. ?I quickly decided hard panniers were not what I wanted when riding in the dirt (I finally lost one when riding too fast on some serious Bolivian washboard, which was probably a blessing – meant I had to buy some soft panniers before I got a broken ankle in a fall!). ?I could never get the soft panniers to fit really snug to the bike, and they were a pain to take off and put on – an unavoidable requirement sometimes when staying in hostels.

Eventually I got my hands on some Siskiyous. ?I had been using a Diablo tank bag for several months – I swapped it for the bigger tank bag I started with, which kept hitting me in the Crown Jewels when standing on the pegs! ?I was super happy with the Diablo, so I reckoned the Siskiyous were worth a shot. ?I think I’ve nailed it: really secure, easy to mount and remove, weight nicely forward on the bike, seriously tested in an Argentinian thunderstorm and stayed 100% waterproof… ?Very happy so far.

I wasn’t sure how they would fit the 660 Tenere because of the prominent pillion handles, but I’ve had no problems. ?I’ve still got my old pannier rack fitted, but I’m toying with removing it to save a few kg and seeing how things go.”

Giant Loop Rider Jill used a Great Basin on her FZ6, to stow her camping gear and supplies for 10 days of camping, during her ride to Leguna Seca in California. ?She wrote us saying:

“Subject: Thanks for the product! Great Basin

This summer, I took my FZ6 on an 1800 mile road trip from Seattle to Leguna Seca, CA and back.? The Giant Loop worked great on my bike!? It was easy to pack and carry my gear. I camped the entire time, so I not only had supplies for 10 days but camping gear as well.? The only modification that I will do is to purchase a rear rack to help cinch the bag back further on the seat…
…I also use this on my BMW 650 Sertao when I dont want to ride with the panniers. This was a great and inexpensive way to set up my fz for touring.
Thanks again for an awesome product…

Jill…”

Jill, thank you for sharing your story and sweet pics with us.
Ride while you can!